John A Krippel

US Patent:

20040255420, Dec 23, 2004

Filed:

Jun 4, 2004

Appl. No.:

10/860961

Inventors:

Kenneth Shary - Twinsburg OH, US
Patrick Kelley - Willoughby OH, US
John Krippel - Rock Creek OH, US

Assignee:

The Malish Corporation

International Classification:

A47L011/14

US Classification:

015/230170

Abstract:

A pad driver for use with a floor maintenance machine that includes a riser portion and a driver disc portion that defines a driving surface which is engageable with a floor maintenance pad. The riser includes a radial flange which extends outwardly from a central hub. The radial flange includes a rim portion supported radially outwardly from the hub by a plurality of spoke-like regions. Regions of reduced material thickness separate the spoke-like regions. The hub is generally cup-shaped and includes a planar upper disc portion and a stepped, transition portion that joins the upper disc portion with the radial extending flange. A plurality of radially extending, rigidizing axial ribs extend between the underside of the upper disc portion and the inside of the stepped transition portion. The driver disc portion may comprise a separate driver disc attached to the riser or alternately, comprise a plurality of driving elements molded into the radial flange. The radial flange is preferably angled at approximately 5 with respect to a horizontal plane that is orthogonal to a rotational axis of the riser when the rotational axis is oriented vertically. A clutch member portion for rotatably coupling a drive motor forming part of the floor maintenance machine to the riser may be integrally formed in the riser or alternately, be defined by a separate clutch member suitably attached to the riser. The pad driver may comprise an assembly made up of individual elements or alternately, be molded as a single unit from a polymeric material, such as glass filled nylon.